Raven's Hollow
by LonelyLamppost
Summary: What's up with Oz's strange behavior? Is Gilbert going to be able to help him? FIND OUT.  fail summary  It follows the main story-line.
1. Chapter 1

_**R**__avens__** Hollow**_

Act oo1:

Gil always had an affect on Oz. Everyone knew that. Gil was Oz's pillar. That one main beam in the house, that sat in the center, that kept it from falling. Oz's mother had died when he was still really young. Since, he had grown up with the maids raising him, barely ever seeing his father. And the rare times he got to see the man, his eyes were constantly full of disapproval. And if you looked a little closer, you could see the resentment, and the hate.

A couple of the maids, that weren't fond of Oz for one reason or another, claimed it was because his mother had cheated on the man Oz called father, and they claimed Oz wasn't his son. Some claimed it was because Oz looked exactly like his mother, and it hurt the older man.

The truth was; Oz was an accident. Zai hadn't wanted a child then.

And the day it all came out was a sad day indeed. For the people that cared the deepest for the young blond.

Oz, barely even ten, sat in his room, door locked, sitting at the headboard of his bed, knees drawn up to his chest, eyes screwed shut, his hands pressed tightly over his ears. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't block out the voice.

"_You should never have been born."_

It echoed, and echoed, until Oz couldn't take it anymore. He jumped off his bed, screaming. He pulled the sheets off, threw the pillows across his room, shoved everything off his side table, and moved to the desk, where he shoved all of his books, and papers off, shattering his desk lamp in the process, along with a photo frame of a young, blond woman with bright, emerald green eyes. The glass cracked, causing a spider-web effect.

Oz didn't notice. His head had shot up, and his eyes landed on the mirror across the over-sized room.

_It's all your fault._

He thought to the mirror. Staring back at him as he approached the glass was a ten-year-old, blond boy with emerald green eyes that dulled with each step.

"He doesn't want you. He isn't happy with you. And it's your fault. You weren't good enough." He told the mirror with each step.

It seemed as if the figure in the mirror was standing still. The boy's shoulders seemed to slump, and he lifted his head, turning it ever so slightly to the right.

_**Is it me he isn't happy with? Is it really me he doesn't want? Are you sure you're not the one that's good enough?**_

It had his voice, and its lips moved on the other side of the mirror. It was talking back to him. The figure in the mirror seemed to stay in the same stance as Oz himself tensed up, clenched his fists and raised them.

"SHUT UP!" He yelled, and just as the figure in the mirror opened his mouth to argue back, Oz slammed his bare fist into the surface, shattering the glass into small pieces, cutting his hand in the process, scattering blood in a trail as he moved his hand back, letting it fall to his side. He kept his head up, but lowered his gaze to the glass. "It was you. And now, you're gone."

But the voice was still there.

"_You should never have been born, Oz."_

It was his voice.

His own voice.

_No. It's that...Monster's voice. The one from the mirror._ He thought to himself, not realizing he was picking up a piece of the mirror. He lifted it, so only his eyes showed in the slip. The eyes on the other side were smirking back at him. "GO AWAY!" Oz screamed. Without a second thought, he brought his other arm up, placed the glass on his skin and slid it across with pure ease.

The pain wasn't there, but a scream escaped his lips. Frustration, maybe? And another slice was made.

He was too busy trying to destroy the voice within his head, he didn't even hear the two voices on the other side of his door. One belonged to his loving, little sister; Ada. The other belonged to his own personal servant; Gilbert, who was more commonly known as Gil. He was too lost in his own world to hear that someone was slamming against the door, he didn't even hear the wood splinter as, by some weird miracle, the door busted open. Oz didn't hear either of them scream. He only came back to reality when he felt tiny hands grab his shirt, and bigger hands, but still small, grab his wrist holding the glass, and carefully grab his other hand.

When he came back to reality, emerald met gold, and a silent plea for help passed his lips before Oz fainted into his servant, and best friend's, arms. He could barely hear the faint cries from the two for him to wake up. All he did was smile at the comforting warmth that was given to him from his friend as he was held close.

**T.B.C.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**R**__avens__** Hollow**_

Act oo2:

A soft groan escaped the blond's lips as he shifted ever so slightly in bed. He heard light sniffling and squeezed his eyes shut tighter before he blinked them open. "Young Master!" Gil's voice cut through the partial silence, and Oz looked over to him, a small smile forming.

"Oh, Gilbert. Hey." He replied, moving to sit up, wondering why Gil was in his room. And then reality came crashing back down on the ten-year-old. Pain shot up his arm, but he ignored it as he sat up, and looked to the injured arm.

"You shouldn't be moving so soon." Gil said, crawling onto the big bed, putting his hands on Oz's shoulders, pushing back gently. Then there was a short pause, as he sat on his knees, staring at the blond. "Young Master, what's wrong? What happened?" He asked, his voice soft, quiet. Oz blinked, then smiled and waved it off, pushing Gil's hands off his shoulders gently.

"Nothing." He lied, scooting over a little, and patting the bed beside himself. "Lay down with me. I'm still a little tired." He offered.

Biting his lip, Gil wagged his head to reject the offer, blushing a little bit. Dropping his gaze, silently debating on whether or not to continue to push Oz to talk about it. Especially since Gil's senses told him that Oz left something out. Smiling timidly at the blonde, "I'm fine, I don't really feel like lying down." He told him softly.

"Nonsense!" Oz tugged his sleeve to pull him down and Gil instinctively jerked away from the grip, causing Oz to widen his eyes with surprise at being rejected.

"You need to talk Oz." This took Oz off guard: Gilbert never used his first name. Ever. And for Gil not to trip over his words to correct himself, that was something new. Almost refreshing. "You passed out, it can't just be nothing. You looked troubled... What was wrong?"

"I lost my favorite book. That's all." He said, his voice taking on a light edge as he lost the capability to lay still. The blond could see the disbelief in Gil's golden hued irises and cleared his throat as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and jumped to his feet.

"Well! I better continue my search! Who knows? Maybe I can find it in the Maid's headquarters. That crazy old lady always likes to decide what's best for me. And my reading apparently. Maybe if I snoop there, I'll find it." He smiled with false hope. "Would you like to come?" Oz didn't give him much of a choice, grabbing the poor dark-haired boy's arm, tugging on him to follow. Gil's eyes narrowed ever so slightly when the reminder of the blood was shown as the sleeve to Oz's night shirt lifted.

"You broke your mirror and cut your arm with the glass over a book?" He questioned with a doubtful tone.

"No, I tripped and tried to break my fall with my arm. But... obviously it didn't work in my favor, huh?" He flashed a sheepish grin over to Gil as he pulled him down the corridors, turning a couple corners that led to the Maid's headquarters. "Don't worry so much Gil."

The excuse made no sense to Gil. How could someone cut their arm like that just from an attempt to break a fall? That, and Oz wasn't a clumsy person and usually caught himself. Gil knew this from being a witness to several moments.

"Why the sullen face? Cheer up, we're almost there."

**%%%**

**Evelyn: Well, this was certainly a fun chapter! The first half was done by the lovely Panda, and I took over the second half. :) Feedback? It would be greatly appreciated! **

**xoxo**


	3. Chapter 3

_**R**__avens__** Hollow**_

**Liberty to the Wolves is Death to the Lambs**

Almost a second before they could get into the Maid's headquarters, Gil jerked back out of Oz's grip immediately. His eyes were furious.

"What's the matter Gil? You aren't afraid, are you?" Oz asked with small laugh in his voice, as if there was nothing to worry about. The smile on his face felt taunting to Gilbert, which infuriated him even more.

"I'm not going. I can't. Not until you tell me what you're up to."

"I told you Gil, I'm looking for a book that belongs to me. You know how the maids like to make sure I'm prepared for Dukedom?" Oz said the last word with a light hint of bitterness that could only be caught by anyone who was focusing on his voice. "They like to decide what's best for me. This is going to be my castle one day, isn't it? One day all of this will be mine. So why can't I search anything? Isn't that my right?" Before he could walk away...

**SLAP!**

But, despite the stinging pain, all Oz could do was smile. He reached for Gil's shoulder, but his hand only touched the air since Gil had immediately taken three steps back.

"It's true though, isn't it?"

"Some things are better left alone." Gil said, his voice shaking a little bit.

"But some things should be uncovered. Especially if they belong to me. That's considered stealing. Even if its for the benefit of someone else, if the object has something about someone else or that it belongs to someone else... Its theirs." Oz smiled a bit more. "Let that be a lesson for you Gil."

Silence fell between the two as Oz continued walking toward the Maid Headquarters and Gil followed faithfully behind him. Oncoming footsteps caused Oz to stop in his tracks, putting his arm in front of Gil, making him stop as well.

"What...?"

"Shh!" Oz silenced him, putting his index finger against his lips and opened a nearby door and dragged him inside without checking if it were empty or not.

Shutting the door behind them, to his relief it had a lock, and locked it quickly.

"Why are we hiding? You have every right to be in these parts of the castle right?" Gil asked, quoting him from earlier without thinking.

But the blonde thought nothing of it and simply looked over to him with a smile and with eyes that glimmered with mischief. "It's fun to sneak around. And feel like doing something you aren't supposed to. In all technicality... I'm not supposed to be here." He reasoned while glancing about the room and somewhat relieved to see that it was vacant, the last thing he wanted was to have someone ruin his plans on finding something that held a high importance. Maybe the book he's looking for is here? He eyed the books in the three bookcases that were against the other walls. In the center of the room, there is a comfortable-looking red sofa and an mahogany side-table on its right end with a lamp perched on top of it. But his main focus was on the books.

Gil wandered to go look at the bookshelf on the opposite side of Oz.

"What are we looking for?" He asked timidly.

"A secret passageway."

"Huh?" Gil looked at Oz as if he had just grown two heads. "A secret passageway? Why?"

"Gil, if they are trying to hide something, they won't put it in an obvious place. It's sacred to the family. And it's not something that anyone would be allowed to treat like an ordinary book." He started to inspect the entire bookshelf, pulling out several books and tossing them to the floor gently so that they wouldn't scatter about the floor. When he didn't find anything suspicious, he moved to the end of the bookshelf and inspected the space between it and the wall. Realizing that there's a three inch space in between, he didn't hesitate to walk to the other side of the room and grab Gil by the wrist and pull him towards his discovery.

"What is it? What did you find?" He questioned Oz until they stopped in front of the suspicious bookcase.

"Go to the other end and Pull. I'm going to push this end."

They worked together and to both of their surprise the bookcase moved very easily. When they completely moved it away from the wall, there was a door behind it. The door was painted royal blue with gold ivy running along the sides of the door. Gil gaped stupidly at it, eating his own words immediately.

"This is it." Oz grinned, "Its beyond this door I know it." He put his hand around the golden doorknob and turned it. It surprised him that it wasn't locked. If a door was going to be hidden, he would have made sure it had been locked a million times over to make sure the item was kept safe.

"Are you sure we should...?"

Before Gil could even get out his question, Oz had opened the door and obsidian mannequin flew out like a fast-paced shadow and it flew past Gilbert who looked absolutely terrified. His whole body shook as if he were hit with an icy wind. The mannequin that flew toward him had an increasingly large smile that revealed monstrous fangs. He thought it would eat him alive!

"D-d-did you see that?" Gilbert threw himself at Oz and clung tightly to his sleeve,

"Gil calm down. See what?" Oz asked obliviously, observing his friend with a look of concern in his emerald eyes. "If you're that scared... You can go now." He offered considerably.

"Are you-?" He shook his head vigorously, could it have been a figment of his imagination? "No, I'm not going."

Oz only smiled briefly at his friends loyalty before walking into the room.

Unsure of what nasty surprises are in store.

**Evvy: Yayyy! :) I really hope you guys loved this chapter! It was kind of fun to write. Panda wanted Gil to slap Oz so there we have it! Little Gill-y stands up for himself! **

…**.**

**For a few seconds. XD**

**Anyway!**

**Feedback would be lovely!**

**It would definitely motivate us to update faster. =)**

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**We respect criticism, so feel free to point stuff that you didn't like or something you noticed that needs to be fixed. =) **

**With that said! Hope you enjoyed it- And farewell my dears! **


	4. Chapter 4

_**R**__avens__** Hollow**_

Act oo4:

Taking in a deep breath, Gil took a shaky step forward, looking around as he entered behind Oz. The room was dimly lit, and it gave Gilbert all kinds of bad feelings. Reaching forward, he had expected Oz to be close. When his hand grabbed air, his eyes widened, and his head snapped forward. "Young Master!" He called out, screaming when a face suddenly appeared in front of his own.

"Sh! Gil, it's okay!" Oz exclaimed, covering Gil's mouth with his hand, pointing towards the center of the room. "Look. There's a table over there. C'mon." He said, grabbing Gil's hand now and pulling him along. Gil willingly followed, keeping close as he continued to look behind himself, and around them. As they approached the center of the room, the temperature dropped and Gil swore he felt another presence. He could almost hear someone's voice.

The closer they got, the more Gil felt like he was walking on thin ice. And the table disappeared. A sudden wind picked up, a dark fog clouding the room. "Gilbert!"

"Young Master!" Gil called, latching to his arm. Before either realized it, they were on opposite sides of the room, a maniacal laugh echoing through the room.

"_**Oz Vessalius. I always knew this day would come."**_

The evil laughter got louder and...

Gil shot up in bed, eyes wide, reaching out. "Young Master!" He called out, only to feel hands push him roughly back against the bed.

"Lie still." A harsh voice said.

"But, the young Master! He needs me! He's in trouble!" He tried, trying to get up. His attempts failed.

"Speaking of the young Master, what have you done with him?" Gil's eyes widened considerably.

"Wha...? I didn't do anything! He was looking for something, a book... We found a passageway...And this voice..." He tried to recall everything that had happened, to no avail.

"You better not be lying, Or you'll lose your head."

**Evelyn: Blah! Panda started this chapter and got herself stuck so I wrote an ending! Sorry, folks. =[ I've been sick like a dog, lately. **


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